Benjamin Franklin Perry

Benjamin Franklin Perry ( born November 20, 1805 Pickens County, South Carolina; † 3 December 1886 in Greenville, South Carolina ) was an American politician and Governor of South Carolina in 1865.

Early years and political rise

Benjamin Perry attended primary school in Asheville, North Carolina. After a subsequent law degree, he was admitted in 1827 in South Carolina as a lawyer. He subsequently worked as a lawyer but did not, but devoted himself to journalism. Since 1832, he published the newspaper "The Greenville Mountaineer " out. Later still more newspapers were added. During the Nullifikationskrise in 1832 was Perry on the Union side. From 1836 to 1842 was Perry deputy in the regional parliament of South Carolina. Followed between 1844 and 1848 four years in the Senate of his country before he returned in 1849 in the Parliament, where he remained until 1860. this year he spoke out against secession. After but a Convention had decided to withdraw from the Union, he joined out of loyalty to this movement. in 1862 he was elected again in the Parliament of South Carolina and in 1864 he was Confederate district judge.

Governor of South Carolina

Having reached under General William T. Sherman South Carolina in the spring of 1865, the troops of the Union, the then Governor Andrew Gordon Magrath was deposed and arrested. President Andrew Johnson appointed Perry because of his union friendly attitude before the war to the provisional governor of South Carolina. The compliance with the President were the drafting of a new constitution for South Carolina. Despite the opposition of the Radical Republicans, a new Constitution was drafted in the short term Perrys, which lasted only from June 30 to November 29, 1865 by a specially convened Convention. After that most public offices, including the governor, were elected directly by the people. The right to vote was extended and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the abolition of slavery ratified. However, the so-called "Black Codes" were introduced, their new rights took away the black citizens the same again. Voting rights of the Constitution of 1865 made ​​express no right to vote for African Americans before. Perry himself did not want 1865 for the post of the first governor under the new constitution election. therefore he resigned in November from office.

More career

Nevertheless, Perry remained loyal politics. Together with the ex-governor John Lawrence Manning he was in 1866 elected to the U.S. Senate. There the two but was denied as most former Southerners by the radical Republicans of the seat. In the years 1868 and 1876, Perry was a delegate to the National Party days of the Democratic Party. In 1872 he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Benjamin Perry died in December 1886. He was married to Elizabeth Frances McCall, with whom he had nine children.